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. 2021 May 27;18(11):5765.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18115765.

Meaning-in-Life Profiles among Chinese Late Adolescents: Associations with Readiness for Political Participation

Li Lin  1 , Daniel T L Shek  1
Affiliations

Meaning-in-Life Profiles among Chinese Late Adolescents: Associations with Readiness for Political Participation

Li Lin et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

This study explored the association between meaning in life and readiness for political participation based on meaning-in-life profiles among Chinese late adolescents. A total of 1030 college students (mean age = 19.69 ± 1.47 years) in Hong Kong participated in this study. First, we used a cluster analysis to investigate meaning-in-life profiles based on two dimensions: "presence of meaning" and "search for meaning". Furthermore, we investigated the association between meaning profiles and readiness for political participation. Results revealed three distinguishable profiles, which emerged in both male and female adolescents. Students with "high-presence" and "high-search" attributes and students with "low-presence" and "high-search" characteristics showed greater readiness to engage in normative and non-normative political actions than did those with a "high-presence" and "low-search" profile. Our research fills the research gap on meaning profiles in Asian adolescents and provides the empirical basis for an alternative account of youth political participation.

Keywords: cluster analysis; person-oriented approach; presence of meaning; readiness for political participation; search for meaning.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The centers of clusters. Note. This figure presents the standardized scores with mean as 0 and one standard deviation as 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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